After 11 seasons as head coach—and a dreadful 2012 campaign—at Cal, Jeff Tedford was fired Tuesday.

"This was an extraordinarily difficult decision, one that required a thorough and thoughtful analysis of a complex set of factors," athletic director Sandy Barbour said in a statement. "Ultimately, I believed that we needed a change in direction to get our program back on the right track."

Cal made seven consecutive bowl appearances from 2003 until 2009 and reached the Holiday Bowl last season, but this year’s 3-9 campaign—2-7 in the Pac-12—was too much to overcome for Tedford. The Bears lost their final five games and were outscored 121-31 in their final two games against Oregon and Oregon State.

But Tedford, 51, turned around a program that did not have a winning season since 1993 when he arrived in 2002. After a 1-10 season the season before he took over, Tedford led the Bears to a 7-5 mark. Cal twice won 10 games—in 2004 and '06, the program's only double-digit win seasons—under Tedford.

Tedford is owed $6.9 million over the final three years of his contract.

With 82 wins at Cal, Tedford is the school’s all-time winningest coach.

"All involved can feel a great sense of pride with their sacrifice, contributions and commitment that have made it possible to have the winningest tenure in Cal football history," Tedford said in a statement. "We all can be very proud of helping to build a renovated Memorial Stadium that will have a positive impact on many athletes, fans and staff members for years to come. I will never forget the most gratifying part of these last 11 years, and that has been the relationships with the players I have had the special opportunity to watch grow academically, physically, socially and spiritually. To watch this process and be a part of their growth and development has been a blessing."

His tenure was marked by the early success of the quarterbacks he coached. At Cal, he had Aaron Rodgers and Kyle Boller, who both became first-round NFL draft picks. Prior to his arrival in Berkeley, as an assistant he coached Trent Dilfer and David Carr at Fresno State and Joey Harrington and Akili Smith at Oregon—all first-round picks.